Victim Compensation Fund

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, that isn't the only important task we will tackle on a bipartisan basis today. In just a few hours, the Senate will attend to an important subject we have never failed to address; that is, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

I know my colleagues don't need any extended lecture from me about the solemn commitments this program represents: commitments to the firefighters, police officers, and all the first responders who rushed selflessly toward the World Trade Center just moments after the attacks began, to the first responders and workers who reported for duty days or even weeks later, putting their health at serious risk to help others, commitments to those who responded to the Pentagon and in Shanksville, PA, as well, and in the cases where injury or illness has already claimed the lives of those heroes, commitments to the surviving families.

Congress can never repay these men, women, and families for their sacrifices, but we can do a small part to make our heroes whole. That is why the Senate has never failed to attend to the fund before. We are not about to do so now.

I had the honor of meeting with a group of first responders and advocates several weeks back. They gave me the badge of Luis Alvarez, a New York Police Department bomb squad detective who was terminally ill and has since tragically passed away.

It was my honor to receive it. It was my honor to reiterate that the Senate's ironclad commitment to getting this done was never in doubt. I told the first responders I wanted the Senate to address this prior to the August recess, and today we will do so. It will be my honor later today to vote for the funding and ensure this fund is secure. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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